The current state of the prior art in the field of "Bingo-type" games is significant, but easily distinguished from the present invention. The traditional game of bingo is played in the following manner. Individual participants use different cards. The cards are randomly generated such that no two are the same, within the specific game being played. The card columns are labeled "B", "I", "N", "G", and "O". The five rows of the card are unlabeled, but partitioned such that the game card has individual squares, each containing a number. A "FREE" space may be assigned a card which allows a tile to be placed thereon when the games begins.
The caller of the game randomly draws a number and column, usually selecting from a pool of balls or tiles which have random assignments labeled on them. If the number called is associated with the same number in the designated column of the player's card, the game participant places a tile in the square. The game is won by the game participant who first places a tile in each square comprising a row, column or diagonal across the respective board.
There has developed many variations of the above traditional game. The current art of bingo does not include a game form which bases winning not on chance, but on mathematical probability. In existing bingo games, the players assemble in one location, purchase their bingo cards and hope that the randomly drawn numbers form winning bingo patterns on one or more of their own bingo cards before forming winning patterns on another player's card. In each game, only a single player who was lucky enough to possess the card that contained the winning pattern, wins a prize. When the first winning pattern is formed on any card, the game ends.
There are shortcomings in current formats of playing bingo. As the quantity of cards in the game increases, each player's chance of winning decreases. Also, the game's integrity is in question because the opportunity for cheating exists. For example, a dishonest player who is a confederate of the dishonest operator can tamper with the numbers on his or her card during a game. When the dishonest player calls "bingo", the dishonest operator overlooks the tampering on the winning card while verifying it, and pays the dishonest player. The dishonest player covertly divides the winnings with the dishonest operator. The legitimate players are thereby deprived of a fair opportunity to win.
Additionally, all current versions of bingo require players to select from a group of pre-printed bingo cards prior to beginning play. There is no opportunity for a player to create his or her own unique and personal bingo card. Personalized cards would help to increase player confidence in the integrity of the game.
Existing bingo games played over the Global communications network, for example the Internet, are similarly deficient. They involve a common web site to which all players are interactively connected. The first player to obtain a bingo signals the common web site, and the game ends. As in a bingo hall, there is usually only one winning card per game. Again, the element of doubt exists because it is impossible to verify the legitimacy of the winners and the integrity of the game. A dishonest web site operator can easily verify a non-legitimate wining card.
Many forms of gaming on the telephone and on the Global communications network, for example, the Internet, depend upon the outcome of random number generation. A major shortcoming of global communications network and telephone gaming is the inability of bettors to observe the mechanical random number generating process live in high quality, full screen, real time video. In existing global communications network gaming operations, the results of random number generation are made available for viewing on players' computer monitors by posting bland text spelling out the outcomes. But because of limitations in current technology, computers and monitors are unable to present live, full screen, high quality displays of the random number generating process.
The present invention overcomes this shortcoming by using a variety of broadcasting mediums, including television and telephone, simultaneously, thereby enabling players who prefer to play bingo without sitting in a bingo hall, to maintain interactive communications with the bingo operator by telephone or on the Global communications network, for example the Internet while simultaneously observing the mechanical equipment, live, on conventional television, as it generates random bingo numbers.
A need, therefore, exists for a method of playing bingo: which enables players to win based upon the true mathematical probabilities, regardless of the quantity of other players or their success; which can accommodate an unlimited number of players without altering a player's chances of winning and without altering the prize structure; which enables players to play privately, which enables players to create their own personal bingo cards; which enables more than one player to win differing prizes in each game; and which enables the players to observe high quality, live, full screen displays of the mechanical equipment as it generates random numbers.